


Stubborn

by ryoku



Series: Blood and Bone [4]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Reverse Age AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-29 07:32:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16259567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryoku/pseuds/ryoku
Summary: Spoiler is stubborn. Cass knows that no one will force her to stop.





	Stubborn

**Author's Note:**

> This is more like a reverse continuity au, which means that Steph comes before Tim. Because I said so. This was written much earlier this year, and sort of shelved. I picked it back up, and sorta wrapped it up. It also didn't need much editing, which on my god, is really nice....

There is a new girl in Gotham.

These words make it unclear, because they are words. There is good in words, warmth and sound and deception, but Cass still does not like them. 

Now, when Batman and Damian argue, she knows the words. They are hurtful, and misleading. Their bodies never say the same thing. Arguments are more confusing with words. They are more complicated, and Cass likes simple.

Most of the time, she does not listen. She watches, learns, reacts. Words are not always useful. They get in the way. 

Damian is happy she can talk, but he never says this. Batman is relieved, but he never says this. Words demand reasons more complicated than she can see. Her family is not good with words. They talk, yet also say nothing. Words are useless between them, and Cass does not need them. They are needlessly complicated. 

When she did not speak, people looked at her. Duke gives her the word, pity. Now, when she speaks, people think she is stupid. Cass does not care, but the others do. Damian has come to blows over it, Batman has gotten angry, and Duke has been sad. It is a lot of trouble over unnecessary words.

They are complicated. They are unclear. Cass wishes she did not have them, but she does. The magic that gave them to her cannot be changed. Cass has to learn how to live in this world of words. She does not like it. 

The girl wears purple clothes. She hides her face, like one of them. She is not. The girl is new. Young. Unskilled. It is easy to see. There is no need for words.

Batman does not like it. He is worried. The girl will get hurt, or die. Batman tries to talk to her, but it doesn't work. Cass can see the girl's determination. There is nothing Batman can say, he will not change her. Cass knows.

Duke has a different opinion. He knows who the girl is. “Spoiler,” he says. He knows more, but he does not say. Batman does not make him.

Spoiler. It is another strange word. To spoil. Alfred writes it down for her when she asks. Cass looks at the word, but it holds no answers. She thinks there are secrets in words, things she cannot understand.

If she asked, Damian would talk at her. He would say many things, use words she did not understand. He is like this. Sometimes, he notices, and tries to be better, but he is not. She does not ask.

She finds the word in the dictionary, after hours of comparing the words. She likes to do this some times. Cass can't read, but the numbers, those are easy. It is good to know how many mysteries a word holds. Spoil has 4, and 2. She does not know why it is not 6.

Once, when she was small, Cass wanted to know the mysteries of books. She would spy Damian in the library, softly turning pages, sitting in a small patch of sunlight. He was calm, attentive. The book did that to the boy that rages, that defies understanding, who wants to hurt but tries so hard not to. She did not understand. She still does not.

Now that she understands words, she is not sure she cares. Words complicate, words mislead. Can books also lie? Cass does not know. Words without action are useless.

Alfred reads to her once a week. She does not know why it makes him happy. He comes to her after she has trained, when she is tired and ready for sleep, and he reads. Cass listens, picking out the words and sounds. She remembers what it was like not to know words. It was not all bad. This is not all bad either.

Cass and Damian meet the girl again. Spoiler. Damian tells her to go home, but he does not mean it. Just like Batman. When Batman told her to leave, what he was really saying was, “Do not get hurt. You are in danger.” Damian is the same. He cannot see it, but they are like each other, so similar that they hurt.

When Spoiler speaks, she twitters, like a bird. There are ups and downs, lots of noises and meanings, and her body is just as active as her speech. She is easy to understand. Easier than Duke, but not as easy as Batman.

It is useless to talk to her in this way. Spoiler will not stop. Cass can see it.

Damian does too.

He teaches her instead. Words, motions. How not to die. He does not go easy. Damian wants to scare her. Spoiler cannot be scared away. She gets up every time he knocks her down. Damian's words are cutting, violent, but Spoiler weathers them. Her smile is infectious, even with blood coating her teeth. She will not stop, they cannot make her.

Damian did always like strays.

Stephanie.

The name is new, with turns and loops. It is not in the dictionary, like Duke is. Cass checked. Her father is Cluemaster. Batman is cautious, angry, but Damian cannot be convinced to stop. Batman should know that by now. They are too alike.

There are more arguments. 

-

Cass follows Spoiler. She is not convinced Batman is right. She is also not convinced Damian is right. She needs to decide for herself. She watches.

Spoiler does not notice her. She is good, she can see what Damian does, but Spoiler is not good enough. Batman is right. It is dangerous. On her own, Spoiler will die. Damian is also right.

That is the thing with words, some words win, and others don't, they divide the world neatly into rights and wrongs, when the world without words is not so clear.

Spoiler, will not be stopped. The answer is to make her better. That way, she won't have to stop.

It takes time for Spoiler to catch on, for her to realize what Cass wants from her, what Cass is doing for her. Words like “Spar,” and “Learn,” help, but they aren't complete. Still, given time, Spoiler understands. Her happiness is something Cass doesn't often see, movements that aren't tied down or even precise.

Cass has never shown anyone how to fight before, she can't use the words that Damian can, but she knows the physical, and she knows that Spoiler will get back up when Cass spars with her. Spoiler wants to learn, wants to do good, like Cass does. So Cass will teach her. And when someone wants to hurt Spoiler, Cass will be there to stop them, in every move Spoiler learns from her.

Spoiler, Stephanie, talks to her. While they are sparing, while they are sitting, her voice high and clear. Stephanie wants to be understood. She want's Cass to understand, and for the first time, Cass thinks that maybe, she wants Stephanie to understand her too.


End file.
